Richard Diaz shares his amazing story of overcoming adversity to become not only the first CIA disabled officer with his type of disability to qualify with a weapon and deploy to a warzone, but also the first to certify as a Case Officer.
Diaz joins us fresh from his 2019 CIA retirement to share his inspirational story of “beating the odds.” Register ---) https://bit.ly/2SbEJEY
Neither in Scotland, nor in a yard, today we wish many happy returns to the Scotland Yard! The headquarters of London's Metropolitan Police was formed on this day in 1829.
The name derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard.
Mother, Daughter, Sister, Spy is back! This popular annual panel and Q&A featuring former females spies goes global this year as we welcome a live online audience of 700+ from around the US and the world to its new virtual format.
Join us on Monday, October 26; 6:30 p.m. for a fascinating, wide-ranging conversation with a star-studded panel of women who have had incredible careers in espionage and intelligence. Our esteemed panel includes Amy S. Hess; Lieutenant General Mary Legere, Dr. Jung H. Pak, Karen M. Schaefer and Debra Evans Smith.
Register today: https://bit.ly/3ibfGMP
#ArtifactOfTheDay: Type 111 MKII Radio with headphones and morse code pad, used by Virginia Hall.
In constant danger of discovery by the Germans, OSS heroine Virginia Hall used this suitcase radio to send intelligence reports to the OSS in Morse code. It was no easy task. To generate electricity for the radio, it was attached to a bike frame connected to a car battery. Pedaling charged the battery, powering the radio.
Explore the Museum's Collections Highlight - https://bit.ly/3kT47f8
Dive into a SPY workshop whereever you are!
Our virtual, multi-disciplinary, educator-led workshops teach core curriculum through the exciting lens of spying! Transport your students into the shadow world, test their analytical and problem-solving skills, encourage teamwork, and bring the Museum's unique content and collections to life (all while supporting your curriculum standards!).
Book a Virtual Student Workshop today -->> https://bit.ly/3kT1NVr
Spy Museum is reopen with extended weekend hours! Join us for a Safe and Stealthy mission.
New safety measures are in place including capacity limits, social distancing, mask requirements and enhanced cleaning.
Reserve a ticket: https://spymuseum.org
Today in #SpyHistory: Dr. James Jay, brother of “Founding Father” John Jay was born in 1732. George Washington hired Dr. Jay to devise a key formula for a secure invisible ink—a “sympathetic stain” as he called it. An ink that quickly disappeared…but became visible again after applying a unique, difficult-to-find revealing agent.
What was the secret recipe for Dr. Jay's Invisible Ink? Two simple ingredients - Gallic acid (ink) and ferrous sulfate (solution).
Halloween is right around the corner! Take your transformation to the next level and join our family virtual disguise workshop TODAY.
You'll meet Jonna Mendez, former CIA Chief of Disguise, and learn tips from professional make-up artist, Roger Riggle.
Using materials gathered from home, you will practice creating effects such as old age, glamour, scars, and more!
Don't miss "Spies in Disguise: Halloween Edition" today at 5:30 PM. Register: https://bit.ly/34HVvlc
"You can’t be a real spy and have everybody in the world know who you are and what your drink is. That’s just hysterically funny.”
Remembering the wit and wisdom of Sir Roger Moore, the longest serving James Bond on his 93rd birthday. 📷: Everett Collection
TODAY - Join us at 12 p.m. ET for the "Secret History of History: Color Wars." We'll take a colorful look at the history of cochineal red—and how this extraordinary shade was protected as a trade secret, and how that secret was eventually stolen as the result of economic espionage.
Our speaker is Amy Butler Greenfield, author of A Perfect Red: Empire, Espionage, and the Quest for the Color of Desire. Register: https://bit.ly/2SN9mAW
For a decade, the FBI monitored a network of Russian spies masquerading as normal American families. It was like "The Americans" in real life. Agents bugged the spies’ homes, followed their travels, and ultimately cracked their secret communications network, to try to stop sensitive information from getting into the hands of the Russian government.
Don't miss "The FBI Declassified | The Spies Next Door" TONIGHT at 10/9c on CBS.
WATCH ---> https://cbsn.ws/3lBlMbs #FBIDeclassified
Join us for an all-new #SpyChat this week! Don't miss our virtual discussion of the latest intelligence, national security, and terrorism issues in the news with Spy Museum Executive Director Chris Costa and special guest, Mike Rogers, former Chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and host of CNN's of “Declassified: Untold Stories of American Spies."
Register -->https://bit.ly/3lM7t49
Countdown to the first-ever virtual Parade of Trabants! Celebrate the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall with everyone’s favorite Cold War car—the Trabant. 🚗
Join us online on Saturday, November 7, 10AM-12PM ET for live interviews, videos and general good Trabi vibes!
Own a Trabi? It's not too late to enter your car in our online Trabant Rally. You could win Top Prize for the Best Trabant! Simply send a current photo of your Trabi to Amanda Ohlke, aohlke@spymuseum.org, with subject line: Trabant Rally. And let us know which categories you want to be judged in.
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CATEGORIES:
Best Trabant
Most Creative Trabant
Funniest Trabant
Best Not-a-Trabi
🚕
https://www.spymuseum.org/.../14th-annual.../2020-11-07/
On this day in 1952, the National Security Agency NSA), the national-level intelligence agency of the Department of Defense was officially formed.
Aptly nicknamed the "No Such Agency", NSA is the most secret and far-reaching component of the U.S. intelligence apparatus. It is responsible for global monitoring, collection, and processing of information and data for foreign and domestic intelligence and counterintelligence purposes.
Today in #SpyHistory: Iranian militants seize US Embassy in Tehran and detained more than 50 Americans, 1979.
The detainees were held hostage for 444 days and stands as the longest hostage crisis in recorded history. #ARGO 📷: U.S. Army
#ArtifactofTheDay: URME Anti-Facial Recognition Mask, 2013. All is not what it always seems...
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People have been hiding from surveillance since the beginning of networked cameras. This mask is an anti-surveillance device offering from artist Leo Selvaggio.
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He created the photorealistic 3-D printed prosthetic mask of his own face and his features, such as skin tone, texture and hair. When a person wears this mask, any camera systems equipped with facial recognition software will identify the person not as themselves but as him, Leo Selvaggio.
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The basic gist is that rather than hide from cameras, simply give them a face other than your own to track without drawing attention to yourself in a crowd.
Today in #SpyHistory: Vice President George Bush and DCI William Casey lay the cornerstone for the new CIA Headquarters building, 1985.
https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP88G00186R000800930022-2.pdf
For Andrew Hammond, a Scotsman and the historian and curator of the International Spy Museum, the loss of iconic actor Sean Connery at the age of 90 hits particularly hard. “As a Scot, someone from the same country, it’s a great loss and a deep loss,” Hammond told WTOP News.
“For spy fans and people who are from Scotland, but also for anyone who’s ever loved having the lights out and escaping through the lens of cinema, it’s just a great loss.”
James Bond movies, Hammond said, have taught lots of people what they know about being a spy, even if many of them are pure fantasy.
WTOP.COM
Curator of DC’s International Spy Museum offers appreciation for Connery’s ‘Bond’ | WTOP
This season, cozy up and peek into the world of espionage with our favorite new spy novels. This curated list from the Spy Museum's book buyer features a selection of fiction and nonfiction reads for the wanna-be spy.
Visit the online #SpyStore - https://bit.ly/3sbtQDW
As the FBI’s former Head of Counterintelligence, Frank Figliuzzi had a unique opportunity to study patterns of conduct among high-achieving individuals, as well as the errors made by unethical persons.
Join SPY’s Historian and Curator Andrew Hammond for a discussion with Figliuzzi about his memoir, the lessons he’s learned, and the FBI execs who he believes erred!
Register --> https://bit.ly/38nmV2T
Today in #SpyHistory: On this day 48 years ago, trial begins for burglars accused of breaking and entering into the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters at the Watergate complex. The rest is history...
From left: Virgilio Gonzalez (locksmith), Frank Sturgis (the lookout), Henry Rothblatt (attorney), Bernard "Macho" Barker (team captain) and photographer Rolando Martinez. *Not pictured: James McCord and Eugenio Martínez.
📷: ABC News
*NEW* Podcast! 🎙️“Insurrection” – The Intelligence Implications: A SpyCast Special with perspective courtesy of SPY's historian/curator Andrew Hammond, Mark Stout (historian/former CIA analyst) and Diana Bolsinger, formerly of the National Counterterrorism Center.
AUDIOBOOM.COM
“Insurrection” – The Intelligence Implications: A SpyCast Special
#LanguageofEspionage - Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) - intelligence information derived from publicly available sources. It’s everywhere: in maps, scientific journals, newspapers, and social media. Today, OSINT accounts for 80% of all intel.
The challenge is digging through mountains of data to find what’s relevant and reliable. It requires creative thinking, analytical skill, and patience.
Explore the Museum's Language of Espionage for more spy terms: https://bit.ly/3oq50hl
The FBI is seeking to identify individuals instigating violence in Washington, D.C. We are accepting tips and digital media depicting rioting or violence in and around the U.S. Capitol on January 6. If you have information, visit fbi.gov/USCapitol.
TIPS.FBI.GOV
FBI — FBI Seeking Information Related to Violent Activity at the U.S Capitol Building
The spy game is a serious business, and throughout history, the tools and technologies developed for it have mattered just as much as the spies.
Now streaming Netflix's docuseries #Spycraft featuring Keith Melton and Robert Wallace (CIA's gadget-master "Q"). https://bit.ly/3itcJcz
Spring is in the air in the nation's capital...🌸 Cheers to a blooming weekend, agents!
#SpyGnome | https://bit.ly/3d7JVDX
Agents, did you crack yesterday’s code? Many of you did! To solve, you simply applied a Morse code translation. Here’s the answer COSMOS with a little spy history.
Charles Alexander Sheldon from the Office of Naval Intelligence and Sylvanus Morley, an archaeologist, had a quiet meeting at the Cosmos Club (Washington, DC), 1917. Under the cover of research, Morley would subsequently survey 2,000 miles of coastline in Central America to acquire information on German submarine operations leading up to WWI.
#SPYArtifact: Hotplate, US (CIA), ca. 1956. This is the CIA’s “model 1” hotplate, used to melt seals and open envelopes and packages. It heats to as high as 160°F.
Agents, test your spy skills from home! Can you crack the listed code? We’ll post the correct answer tomorrow. #CracktheCode
In 1996, the CIA recognized that Al Qaeda and its leader, Osama bin Laden, were deadly enemies of the US. It created a taskforce dedicated to analyzing intel and plan operations against bin Laden.
Cindy Storer (pictured), Susan Hasler, Nada Bakos, Gina Bennett and Barbara Sude, were part of a majority female team of CIA intelligence analysts — dubbed "The Sisterhood" — who contributed to the effort to locate Osama bin Laden.
Their work was instrumental in tracking the leader of one of the most well-established terrorist groups in the world.
Experience the Museum’s “Analysis” Exhibit and try your hand at the brainstorming method called Starbursting, an accelerated version of the analysts’ 10-year search.
#WomensHistoryMonth
